Can four actors play 150 roles in a single performance? They can and do in The 39 Steps, now playing at the Ivoryton Playhouse.

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre!

This 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of four), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance! It’s great fun for everyone from 9 to 99.

“39 Steps is a comedic spoof of the classic 1935 film, with only 4 actors portraying more than 150 characters, sometimes changing roles in the blink of an eye. The brilliantly madcap story follows our dashing hero Richard Hannay as he races to solve the mystery of The 39 Steps, all the while trying to clear his name! The show’s uproarious fast-paced 100 minutes promises to leave you gasping for breath… in a good way!” -www.39stepsny.com

Adapted by Patrick Barlow
From the novel by John Buchan
From the movie by Alfred Hitchcock
Licensed by ITV Global Entertainment Limited
And an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon

Jonathan Brody* (Clown #2) appeared on Broadway most recently in Amazing Grace and Spamalot, and was in the original companies of Titanic, Me and My Girl, and Sally Marr…and her escorts opposite Joan Rivers. Off-Broadway credits include Gimpl Tam & The Megile of Itzik Manger (in Yiddish!), Eating Raoul, Theda Bara & the Frontier Rabbi and as the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance . He’s toured with Mary Poppins, Spamalot, Funny Girl, My Fair Lady, and appeared regionally in Animal Crackers, Hamlet, I Hate Hamlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Dybbuk, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Urinetown, Groucho; A Life in Revue, and many productions of Forever Plaid. TV credits include The Knick, Boardwalk Empire, Guiding Light , and Great Performances – Sondheim; A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, An Evening With Alan Jay Lerner, and Porgy and Bess; An American Voice (as George Gershwin) all on PBS. Proud member of Actor’s Equity for 33 years.

David Edwards* (Clown #1) returns for a third season at Ivoryton Playhouse where he appeared in La Cage Aux Folles and Calendar Girls and directed South Pacific and I’ll Be Home For Christmas. He made his professional debut as a child in the Broadway musical The Rothschilds. Other Broadway/National Tour credits include The Producers (as both Max Bialystock and Roger DeBris) and Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s By Jeeves directed by Alan Ayckbourn. Off-Broadway he was the final El Gallo in the record-breaking original run of The Fantasticks and starred in the critically acclaimed revival of Room Service. Other New York credits include The Roar of the Greasepaint…,That’s Life, Jolson & Co., What’s a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This?, Zion, Company, What’s That Smell?: The Music of Jacob Sterling, and Ionescopade. Favorite regional credits include Man of La Mancha, (Don Quixote), La Cage aux Folles (Albin), Camelot (King Arthur), Bells Are Ringing (Jeff), A Little Night Music (Fredrik), Irma Vep, Little Me (Star Ledger Award – Best Musical Actor), 1776 (John Adams), A Few Good Men, Ragtime, and The Cripple of Inishmaan at such theatres as The Ordway, Eugene O’Neill Center, Westchester Broadway Theatre, The Old Globe, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Portland Stage Co., GeVA, Bristol Riverside, Gateway Playhouse, Florida Studio Theatre and Syracuse Stage. Film & TV: “Belly”,” “The Fantasticks: Try to Remember,” Meshuggah-Nuns TV Special, The Good Wife. David has sung with NY City Opera, Virginia Opera, and Skylight Opera Companies, and has appeared as a concert soloist with the El Paso & Albuquerque Symphonies and the Palm Beach Pops. Recordings include the cast albums of “Bittersuite” and “Kings” and a solo album “David Edwards Giving Voice,” available on Amazon and ITunes. www.davidedwardsonline.com.

Dan Fenaughty* (Richard Hannay) is honored to sharing this experience with the talented cast and crew of The 39 Steps in his Ivoryton debut. He has traveled the country with National Tours of The 39 Steps, Cabaret, & Miracle on 34th Street as well as worked regionally. Recent credits include: Anything Goes (Stages St. Louis), Camelot (Westcester Broadway), God of Carnage (Weathervane Theatre), & Murder Among Friends opposite Loretta Switt (Forestburgh Playhouse). Dan has also voiced characters in short films (Gutboy: a bad time story) and audio books (the Chimeras Series) along with appearing in regional and national commercials. Listen to his podcast, the Gentleman Actor, via his website www.danfenaughty.com. Thanks to Bill and Julia for their hard work, family for their support and Larissa for her love.

Larissa Klinger* (Annabella/Pamela/Margaret) is excited to be reprising one of her favorite roles while making her Ivoryton Playhouse debut. Some of her favorite theatre credits are: National Tour: The 39 Steps (Annabella/Pamela/Margaret), Miracle on 34th St (Doris). Regional credits: Lend Me a Tenor (Diana), Mack and Mabel (Mabel), Legally Blonde (Vivienne), Backwards in High Heels (Ethel Merman/Woman #3), Gypsy (Louise), 42nd St (Annie), 1776 (Martha), Sisters of Swing (LaVerne Andrews), Cabaret (Helga). Larissa is also the dance captain and a performing member of the USO Show Troupe, the only officially chartered entertainment group for the USO. She finds it incredibly rewarding to bring joy through music to our American Military Service Members and their families and has enjoyed touring worldwide to do so. With the USO Show Troupe, Larissa has performed at ABCs Rockin’ New Year’s Eve in Times Square, opened for Katy Perry, performed with Blake Shelton, and shared the stage with Stephen Colbert. Larissa can also been seen in many TV commercials. Thanks to the team at LAVA for everything you do. All my love to Dan. www.larissaklinger.com

Directed by: Erik Bloomquist

Stage Manager: Randy Lawson*

Scenic Designer: Daniel Nischan

Lighting Designer: Marcus Abbott

Sound Designer: Tate Burmeister

Costume Designer: Cully Long

Wig designer: Elizabeth Cipollina

* member of Actors Equity

Join us for an opening night reception with the cast following the performance on Friday, June 3rd. Light refreshments will be served.

Check back here for press releases, photos and video clips!

A zany spoof of Hitchcock moviesThe 39 Stepsby Patrick Barlow

One part thriller and two parts slapstick!

Ivoryton – Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance!

The 39 Steps is set in England, just before the war. A young man bored with life meets a woman with a mysterious accent who says she’s a spy and needs to take refuge in his apartment. Murder and mayhem soon follow as our hero is chased across the wild and wooly British countryside, meeting a host of ridiculous characters and climaxing in a death-defying finale! A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure!

The first version of the play was written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon for a cast of four actors and funded by a £1,000 Yorkshire Arts Grant. It premiered in 1995 at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire, before embarking on a tour of village halls across the north of England. In 2005, Patrick Barlow rewrote the script, keeping the scenes, staging and small-scale feel, and in June 2005 this re-adaption premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2006, it opened in the West End and in 2008 it premiered on Broadway to rave reviews. The New York Times proclaimed, “Theatre at its finest!… Absurdly enjoyable! This gleefully theatrical riff on Hitchcock’s film is fast and frothy, performed by a cast of four that seems like a cast of thousands”

This production introduces Ivoryton audiences to the husband and wife team of Dan Fenaughty* and Larissa Klinger*, who have both performed these roles before in the national tour. The clowns are played by Ivoryton favorite, David Edwards* and Jonathan Brody*, making his Ivoryton debut. The play is directed by Erik Bloomquist, a two-time Emmy nominated writer/director/producer and former Top 200 Director on Project Greenlight. Erik is currently in post-production on the television adaptation of The Cobblestone Corridor​, a seriocomic mystery series based on his internationally acclaimed short film of the same name. The set design is by Dan Nischan, lighting design by Marcus Abbott and costume design by Cully Long.

The 39 Steps opens at the Ivoryton Playhouse on June 1st and runs through June 19th 2016. Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm.

Tickets are $50 for adults; $45 for seniors; $22 for students and $17 for children and are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting our website at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org

(Group rates are available by calling the box office for information.) The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.

Members of the press are welcome at any performance. Please call ahead for tickets.

Generously sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors and The Safety Zone

Looking for something to do? Ivoryton Playhouse has been voted best place to see live theatre by readers of The Shoreline Times for three years in a row. Come to Essex and visit our historic, professional theatre – a Connecticut treasure!

Did YouKnow

Of the four major film versions of the novel, Hitchcock's film has been the most acclaimed. The British Film Institute ranked it the fourth best British film of the 20th century and Total Film ranked it the second-best book-to-film adaptation of all time. "The 39 Steps" was a major British film of its time. The production company, Gaumont-British, was eager to establish its films in international markets, and especially in the United States, and "The 39 Steps" was conceived as a prime vehicle towards this end. Where Hitchcock's previous film, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", had costs of £40,000, "The 39 Steps" cost nearly £60,000. Fun Fact: Hitchcock heard Scottish industrialist and aircraft pioneer James G. Weir commuted to work daily in an autogyro so he worked the rotorcraft into the film.